Postdoctoral Position Available!

 

Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral Associate position in the Department of Psychology and Center for Neural Science at New York University, in the laboratory of Clayton Curtis, PhD

A highly qualified Postdoctoral Associate is sought to contribute to all aspects of the research including data collection, study design, data analysis, grant writing, conference presentations, and scientific publishing. The lab has two NIH funded projects that aim to understand the neural mechanisms underlying working memory. The studies use psychophysics, eye-tracking, fMRI, TMS, and computational modeling. Experience in one or more of these domains, including strong quantitative skills, is required. The lab and PI has a successful track record of developing the careers of postdocs and preparing them for independent academic careers.   

This position comes with full benefits through New York University, and subsidized on-campus housing is often available. The initial appointment is for one year, with the opportunity of renewal for additional years. Review of candidates will start immediately, and will continue until the position is filled.

To apply, please visit the position’s Interfolio page or contact Clay directly [email] [office landline]

 

We study neural mechanisms that support spatial cognition.

 

The prefrontal and posterior parietal cortices sit at the apex of the sensorimotor hierarchy and are important for the selection and planning of voluntary action and are thought to bias the processing in sensory areas towards behaviorally relevant dimensions. Despite our appreciation that these areas are necessary for flexible action and efficient perception, we know relatively little about the control mechanisms by which they accomplishes these goals. This gap in our knowledge is a critical problem because a host of psychiatric and neurologic disorders stems from a primary dysfunction of executive control.

The lab researches the neural mechanisms that support cognitive control processes. Our work addresses key issues in the domains of working memory, attention, and motor control. We use a variety of neuroscience methods neuroscience methods at NYU including behavioral psychophysics, eye tracking, brain imaging and brain stimulation. We perform functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at NYU’s Center for Brain Imaging. We perform magnetoencephalography (MEG) studies at NYU’s MEG Center. We perform transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) studies at NYU’s Center for Brain Imaging. We perform intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) studies at the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at NYU’s School of Medicine.

 

Principle Investigator, Lab Director

I’m a Professor at New York University’s Department of Psychology and Center for Neural Science. In general, my lab studies the neural mechanisms that support spatial cognitive abilities.

[Email] [GitHub]

Nathan Tardiff, PhD

Postdoctoral Associate

Human behavior can be both remarkably flexible and surprisingly rigid. I research how cognitive flexibility is regulated in memory and decision-making, using behavioral, computational, physiological, and neuroimaging methods. In the Curtis lab, I'm identifying factors that determine the quality of our working memories, which is critical for understanding how these memories are used to support decision-making and other higher-order cognitive processes.

[Email] [LinkedIn] [GitHub]

Zhengang Lu, PhD

Postdoctoral Associate

The human mind possesses the remarkable ability to hold and manipulate information even in the absence of an external stimulus. My research is centered on studying memory guided visual behaviors through the lens of neuroimaging. In the Curtis lab, I focus on understanding how the information represented in memory evolves over time by visualizing the changing format of neural representation.

[Email] [LinkedIn] [GitHub]

Sarah Master

Doctoral Candidate

Working memory is a limited and costly cognitive resource. How do people decide when to use this resource? How much control do they have over its use? As a doctoral student in the Curtis lab, I'm using fMRI, eye-tracking, novel behavioral paradigms, and computational modeling to study how people allocate working memory resources.

[Email] [LinkedIn] [GitHub]

Mrugank Dake

Doctoral Candidate

I am a PhD candidate interested in understanding the role of early visual cortex in working memory. I am using pRF mapping, eye-tracking, MGS, and TMS coupled with EEG, for the same.

[Email] [LinkedIn] [Website] [Github]

Ziyi “Zoe” Duan

Doctoral Candidate

What is the nature of working memory representations? How do our brains transform perceptual representations into working memory and use working memory to guide our behaviors? In the Curtis lab, I am combining fMRI, eye-tracking, psychophysics, and computational modeling to investigate these amazing questions!

[Email] [LinkedIn] [Website] [GitHub]

Wing Kwan “Hannah” Chu

Doctoral Student

How does the brain make use of its fixed neural architecture to carry out a variety of cognitive functions? I am interested in using fMRI and computational modeling to investigate the mechanisms of working memory, the role that different brain regions play in its instantiation as well as the relationship between perception and visual working memory.

[Email] [LinkedIn]

Jean Chrisphonte

Masters Student

As a Masters student with a background in Psychiatry and Biopsychology, I am pursuing a career in Neuropsychology in the Curtis lab. I am currently learning neuroimaging techniques such as fMRI to study psychiatric disorders such as Schizophrenia and researching Computational Psychiatry in collaboration with the New York State Psychiatric Institute.

[Email] [LinkedIn]

Michael George

Lab Manager and Research Assistant

Postbac with degrees in psychology and philosophy, primarily interested in the cognitive science of language, thought, and meaning. For now I oversee administrative duties for the lab and assist the team with data collection and processing. My largest current project consists of reformatting the lab’s corpus of anatomical data to enhance its interoperability and reproducibility.

[Email] [LinkedIn]

Undergraduate Research Assistants: Yuyang Xu & Skylar Zhao


Laboratory Alumni

Tomas Alegria

Alfredo Bolaños

Rafael Cruz

Jason Connolly, PhD
Assistant Professor @ Durham University

Sangita Dandekar

Kevin DeSimone, PhD
Senior Data Engineer @ Integral

Deepna Devkar, PhD
Group Vice President for Engineering @ Warner Bros. Discovery

Marissa Fassold
Doctoral Student @ New York University

David "Drew" Fegen, MD
Data Scientist @ TheLadders

Jay Fuller, PhD
Head of Data Science @ Equinox

Gaoyang Gui

Grace Hallenbeck, PhD
UX Research Scientist @ Meta Reality Labs

Akiko Ikkai, PhD
Research Scientist & User Experience Researcher @ Apple

Trenton Jerde, PhD
Senior Editor @ Nature Machine Intelligence
Part-time Faculty Member @ Columbia University

Linjing Jiang, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar @ Stanford University

Zuzanna Klyszejko, PhD
Lead Data Scientist @ MongoDB

Jeffrey Kravitz

Yuna Kwak
Research Scientist Intern @ Meta Reality Labs

Hsin-Hung Li, PhD
Assistant Professor @ The Ohio State University

Mu Li
Masters Student @ Mount Sinai, Icahn School of Medicine

Shanshan Li
Doctoral Student @ New York University, Abu Dhabi

Wayne Mackey, PhD
Founder & CEO @ Aimlabs / Statespace
Mentor @ Endless Fronteir Labs

Helena Palmieri
Scientist @ Exponent

Masih Rahmati, PhD
Postdoctoral Associate @ Yale University

Golbarg Saber, PhD
Resident Physician @ Weiss Memorial Hospital, Internal Medicine

Jacob Serfaty
Data Analyst @ Kessler Foundation Center for Traumatic Brain Injury Research

Thomas Sprague, PhD
Assistant Professor @ University of California, Santa Barbara

Riju Srimal, PhD
Senior Foreign Affairs Officer @ U.S. Department of State

Kyeong-Jin Tark, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher @ IBS Center for Neuroscience Imaging Research

Qingqing Yang
Doctoral Student @ Ohio State University

Ying Zhou
Doctoral Student – New York University Abu Dhabi